Second-round runoff looms in Guatemala vote

[antiimperialist]

Source: Oneindia

GUATEMALA CITY, Sep 10 (Reuters) Guatemala's presidential election was headed for a runoff between a right-wing former general and a center-left candidate after neither won enough votes to win outright, an exit poll showed.

Social democratic businessman Alvaro Colom was ahead of former Gen. Otto Perez Molina, who wants the army on the streets to clamp down on crime, but both were well short of 50 per cent support and a November second round between them loomed.

The online exit poll by El Periodico, one of the country's major newspapers, gave Colom 36 per cent of the vote, with Perez Molina trailing at 29 per cent.

Read more: http://news.oneindia.in/2007/09/10/second-round-runoff-looms-in-guatemala-vote-1189389711.html

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It looks like the second round will be competitive, although I would guess there won't be a left/center-left president at the end because most the other candidates lean right.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Guatemala: 2 Candidates in Dead Heat

Sep 10, 4:39 AM EDT

Guatemala: 2 Candidates in Dead Heat

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press Writer

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) -- A former general vowing to crack down on crime in Central America's most violent country and a businessman who promises to alleviate desperate poverty were in a near-tie in Guatemala's presidential vote, according to preliminary votes released Monday.

With 68 percent of voting stations reporting, Alvaro Colom, a businessman and three-time presidential contender of the center-left National Unity of Hope Party, had 27 percent of the vote compared with 25 percent for Otto Perez, a former general from the conservative Patriot Party. Nobel Laureate and Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchu trailed with 3 percent, according to results published on Guatemala's Electoral Tribunal Web site.

A second-round vote between Colom and Perez on Nov. 4 is almost certain, as a candidate has to win a simple majority of the votes to take the election in the first round.

While calm mostly prevailed during the election, minutes before polls closed, about 3,000 people set a voting booth on fire in the town of El Cerinal, about 30 miles southeast of Guatemala City. They then went to the town's other voting center and began burning the ballots. Police dispersed them with tear gas.

The crowd accused El Cerinal's mayor, who is running for re-election, of bringing people from neighboring El Salvador to cast votes in his favor.

More:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GUATEMALA_ELECTIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-09-10-04-39-58

[arcos]

2. Colom leans slightly to the left...

And in such a right leaning country he's definitely the better one... Otto Pérez Molina is a total and complete fascist.